My trip to Portland Oregon—LIBERAL? — YES!, PROGRESSIVE? —NO!

 Homeless people —A non problem?!

By Steve Otto

I just recently went to visit my son, Ethan Otto, this past weekend, who lives in Portland, Oregon. Like many of his friends, he works during the day and has a hobby of playing music, which from time to time, brings in some money for him. But worst of all, he has to live with two other people in a house that would be better be used by just two or one person.

But the rent is high—very high. It is high all across the city of Portland. And because it is so high, there are a lot of homeless people.

As my son and others have explained to me—at first, the LIBERAL people and politicians of Portland were worried about the growing problem of homelessness. But not today. By now, many local bourgeois liberals have learned to blame the victim. It is the opinion that those people are lazy and that is why they are homeless.

As my son explained to me, Portland is a very liberal town. Our family mostly come from Wichita, KS, a very conservative part of the country. It is changing. Wichita is not as conservative as it was 20 years ago. The ultra conservatives are dying off and the people moving in are not as conservative as those who have moved on or died.

And yet housing is way cheaper in Wichita than in Portland.

Even though both cities have different housing costs, they both have many corporations that want to employ minimum wage workers to do the needed shit work that corporations need done. When a minimum wage slave can afford a cheep place to live, they will take a lousy job and try and get by. But in Portland many jobs go unfilled. Especially due to the over expensive housing most of the would-be minimum-wage workers simply wont take those jobs. They don't want to be homeless and work full time. Despite cheaper rent, Wichita corporations and businesses still have problems getting the workers they need. Keeping the minimum wage low is finally starting to back fire for those greedy companies who have worked so hard to keep it that way.

My brother Terry Otto, an out-doors-man writer for magazines and newspapers put it simple: "People realize how lousy these jobs are and they now refuse to take them." As he explained to me, the people in this area have wised up. They realize they can't live on minimum wage or anything close to it. So many restaurants, bars and other establishments are short of help. One night I went to eat at Denny's  and I was told I would have to wait at least a half an hour for any food I ordered. They were short staffed. It turns out that is very common all through the town.

So  Portland is  a very liberal town. So why doesn't anyone do anything about the homeless problem? It turns out that property owners have enjoyed a very good income for years based on the idea that anyone can own or buy up some property and get a HUGE benefit from renting it out.

On the news one night, the local mayor was worried about homeless people being so closed to the road that they can fall into the street and get run over.  There have been other concerns about the side effects of homelessness. for example,  The Heritage Foundation posted an article warning about these problems brought in by the homeless:

"The alleys of Portland, Oregon, are strewn with piles of garbage and used drug needles, reflecting a growing problem of homelessness, drug addiction, and mental illness.

Mental illness is now more common among the homeless in Oregon than in any other state. According to a study from 2016, 35-40% of homeless adults in Oregon suffer from some form of mental illness.

The problem is apparent along the Springwater Corridor, a popular biking trail on the east side of Portland that is cherished as peaceful slice of nature hidden from the urban sprawl."

All through my trip I saw tents being used by homeless people all over the city. Sometimes there was just one. Other times they would line the sidewalk. They often come clear up to the street and these quasi homes are in public places that are easily scene from anywhere. Sometimes they are on public park land. Other times they are along public streets were everyday citizens can see them.

While elected officials are liberal on many issues, such as a woman's right to choose an abortion if she needs it, they are bourgeois liberals. Unlike members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and other socialist factions, the bourgeois liberals believe in the joys of capitalism. They understand the needs of their many supporters and themselves to make large profits. They can sympathize with those who want to invest a small amount of money and reap a huge reward. In this way they are no different from their conservative, usually Republican, counter parts.

While elected officials are liberal on many issues, such as a woman's right to choose an abortion if she needs it, they are bourgeois liberals. Unlike members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and other socialist factions, the bourgeois liberals believe in the joys of capitalism. They understand the need to make large profits. They can sympathize with those who want to invest a small amount of money and reap a huge reward. In this way they are no different from their conservative, usually Republican, counter parts.

So while this part of the country seems very liberal—even progressive—there are issues that they are not progressive on. The last time I was in Portland, there had been clashes between the right-wing Proud Boys and a group of leftists, known as Antifa. The Antifa groups wanted to address the Portland City Council. The mayor and his council refused to meet with them or let them in. Their reasoning was that this group of leftists had caused problems and broke laws. So they found themselves justified in just ignoring them all together. For a lot of progressive people this no doubt caused a lot of confusion as to who the real progressive people in the town are. The liberals of the city council were no allies or friends of the progressive left and in a sense they supported the ultra right-wing, nearly fascist Proud Boys.

I took several pictures of tents owned buy homeless people in Portland.